February 21, 2022 Jef Goodger

 

The third major of the 2022 Guaranteed Rate PBA Tour season will pay $100,000 to the winner

 

Fairlawn, Ohio—The 2022 Guaranteed Rate PBA Tour season continues tomorrow with the Kia PBA Tournament of Champions at AMF Riviera Lanes. The qualifying and match play rounds of the third major championship of the season will be streamed live on FloBowling, Feb. 22-25, and the stepladder finals will air live Sunday, Feb. 27 at 1 p.m. ET on FOX Broadcast Channel.

Belmonte’s 2022 Winning Percentage: .500

Through four events this season, Jason Belmonte has two titles (PBA Players Championship and THE STORM CUP: David Small’s Kokomo Championship) and a third-place finish in the U.S. Open. He finished 33rd in THE STORM CUP: David Small’s Best of the Best Championship as his only finish lower than third in four events. He leads all players in Kia PBA Playoffs points and THE STORM CUP points and has to be considered the favorite entering the Tournament of Champions, which he’s already won three times.

Three Jasons, Two of Whom Look for Record-Breaking Fourth Win

The first player to win three PBA Tournament of Champions titles was Mike Durbin (1972, 1982, 1984). The next was Jason Couch, who won three straight times (1999, 2000, 2002—the event wasn’t held in 2001). Belmonte joined Durbin and Couch with a win in 2019 to go with previous wins in 2014 and 2015. If Couch or Belmonte can win this year, he’ll become the first player ever to win the Tournament of Champions four times. A third Jason, three-time PBA Tour champion and reigning King of the Lanes Sterner, is also entered in the event and seeking his first major championship.

Lavoie Enters as Defending Champion

François Lavoie won his fifth PBA Tour title and third major last season in the Tournament of Champions, climbing the stepladder from the No. 5 spot and taking out Sean Rash, Jesper Svensson, Belmonte and Anthony Simonsen to earn the title.

Simonsen and Svensson

The two non-Belmontes to win so far this season—Simonsen in the U.S. Open and Jesper Svensson in THE STORM CUP: David Small’s Best of the Best Championship—will seek their second titles of the year in the Tournament of Champions. Svensson is the youngest player ever to win the T of C, doing so in 2016 at 20 years, 357 days old. Simonsen finished second as the top seed in the 2021 Tournament of Champions and would become the youngest player to win four majors (he’s already the youngest to win one, two and three) if he can win this year.

Tackett is Ready to Win

In four events this season, EJ Tackett owns three top-10 finishes, including second in the U.S. Open after leading by 502 pins and third in THE STORM CUP: David Small’s Kokomo Championship. Tackett is looking to make the Tournament of Champions, which he won in 2017, the breakthrough he needs—and probably deserves—as he seeks his first singles title since 2019.

The qualifying and match play rounds of the PBA Tournament of Champions will be streamed live on FloBowling beginning Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m. ET from AMF Riviera Lanes in Fairlawn, Ohio. To subscribe, visit FloBowling.com.

PBA Tournament of Champions Winners Since 2011

2011 – Mika Koivuniemi
2012 – Sean Rash
2013 – Pete Weber
2014 – Jason Belmonte
2015 – Jason Belmonte
2016 – Jesper Svensson
2017 – EJ Tackett
2018 – Matt O’Grady
2019 – Jason Belmonte
2020 – Kris Prather
2021 – François Lavoie

About the PBA

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the world’s preeminent organization dedicated to the sport of bowling and its professional competition, with thousands of members and millions of fans throughout the world. The PBA plays host to bowling’s biggest tournaments from the PBA Tour, PBA Regional Tour, and PBA50 Tour. In 2020, the PBA launched PBA Jr., a club for elite youth bowlers under the age of 17 and the PBA Pinsiders, a membership for fans of the sport. For more information, please visit PBA.com.

For Press Inquiries

[email protected]